Aircraft historians might find the information
from this 1942 edition of Flying Aces magazine useful. As has long been the
case on many Russian airplanes and helicopters, the basic outlines - and often even the
details - are recognizable from the original versions designed by the United States,
England, and Germany. The Russkies have been short on design and test capabilities and
long on materials, manpower, and espionage agents. It wouldn't be so bad if the copying
was not so obvious. Even their attempt at a space shuttle was a carbon copy of ours.
If not for their leaders' commitment to Communism and Socialism, Russia could be ...

James Webb Space Telescope Completes
End-to-End Test

"NASA's $8.8B
James Webb Space Telescope has completed critical end-to-end testing
in a giant vacuum chamber at the Johnson Space Center, proving the telescope will work
properly in the deep cold of space, bring starlight to a sharp focus and precisely track
its astronomical targets when launched in 2019, engineers said Wednesday. 'The successful
completion of this test represents a very significant milestone for JWST,' said Bill
Ochs, the telescope's project manager at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt,
Md. 'It verified the alignment of the telescope ..."

Model World on the International Scene - January 1968

December 1967 was the last edition of the Academy
of Model Aeronautics' American Modeler magazine, and this January 1968 edition
of
American Aircraft Modeler was the first with the new name. Interestingly, editor
Bill Winter does not mention the name change in his monthly "Straight and Level" column.
For that matter, I checked up through the May issue and still no mention. Printing and
distribution lagged publication for many months back in the day, but usually comments
of previous editions began appearing within three or four months. Nothing. Anyway, here
are some ...

Flyin' Jenny Comic Strip - December 28, 1941

The Baltimore Sun newspaper, published not far
from where I grew up near Annapolis, Maryland, carried
Flyin' Jenny from the late 1930s until the strip ended in the mid 1940s, so I saved
a couple dozen from there. The first one I downloaded has a publication date of December
7, 1941 - that date "which will live in infamy," per President Roosevelt. Many Americans
were receiving word over the radio of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor while reading
this comic at the breakfast table ...

Quiz #1: Models and Manufacturers

Your knowledge of model aircraft kits, engines,
and equipment will need to stretch back a couple decades to score 10 out of 10 on this
model aircraft themed quiz.
Winners get a free 1-year subscription to the Airplanes and Rockets website. Good luck ...

Queen of the R/C Fleet: U.S.S. California Battlewagon

Radio-controlled battleship combat is a major
sport these days with serious "players" investing thousands of dollars into their craft.
The all-electric model boats are scale replicas of actual battleships and sport multiple
screws (propellers), bilge pumps, gyro stabilizers, fully motorized and steerable gun
turrets complete with CO2-powered BB-shooting guns. The models take hundreds of hours
to build, rig, and test. The objective is, after all, to literally sink your opponent's
ship! The California model in this American Modeler magazine article actually
carried "twelve 38-cals and ten 22s" - something you won't find today ...

Gee Bee R-1 and R-2: Air Racing with World's
Fastest Pony Kegs:

"Today it's impossible to think of the golden
age of air racing without an R-1 or R-2 Gee Bee roaring across the mind's eye. To the
aviation public, the
Gee Bees air racing - and vice versa. And that's only right. When
Granville engineer, Pete Miller, drafted the first lines for the 'R' series of Super
Sportsters, there was no way he could have known that he was designing a legend. And
an airplane that would have people shaking their heads for the next 70 years. In fact,
since the last Gee Bee roared around a pylon in 1933/34 there have been no ..."

Float Like a Robot, Think Like a Bee

"Cornell University engineers have been experimenting
with a new type of programming that mimics the mind of an insect. The developed sensors
and algorithms may soon support autonomous, small-scale robots like Harvard University's
RoboBee, an 80-milligram flier that could perform a variety of roles
in agriculture and disaster relief. Even the most lifelike bug-bot could be thrown off
by a gust of wind or a mid-air obstacle. Cornell's sensing system aims to steer a RoboBee
around trouble, adjusting its flight to avoid ..."

How to Bend Music Wire Landing Gear (video)

I am in the process of building a control line
C-47 Skytrain model using plans drawn by Walter Musciano. I knew making the
scale landing gear was going
to be a challenge because it requires bending two pieces of 1/8" music wire with six
90° bends apiece. It seems easy enough in theory, but in practice getting the opposing
axel end to line up in opposition is not trivial. Making the first one took two tries,
as did the second one. the problem was that the two did not match each other very well.
I tried fudging it by bending some weird angles to get the spacing right, but the lengths
of the legs were different enough ...

Video: Model Rocketry - "The Last Frontier" - 1977

William Shatner (aka "Captain Kirk" of the original
"Star Trek" television series) hosted this 1977 video produced by Estes Industries. Titled,
Model Rocketry - "The Last Frontier", it shows not only snapshots
of various Estes model rockets, but also video of actual launches from cameras mounted
on the rockets and cameras mounted at the base of the launch pad - pretty cool for the
day! ...

Flite Kite .049-Powered Box Kite

here is an old adage about aircraft that says
with enough power just about anything can be made to fly. The F-4 Phantom and F-104 Starfighter
jets are prime examples. In 1957, kids and adults were still obsessed with flying machines
and created all sorts of crazy craft. Flying dog houses, witches on brooms, flying doors,
flying lawnmowers, and flying outhouses were popular novelty projects. Ken Willard even
created a Flying Bandana. This
Cox .049-powered box kite
doesn't fall into the same category as an F-4 Phantom, but it does apply as far as making
anything fly if you hang an engine on it. Although author McLarty claims you can adapt
a toy store box kite ...

Unmanned Helicopter Enables Rapid
Resupply

"Autonomy options for the Marine Corps have taken
a major step forward, as the Office of Naval Research completed a helicopter flight demonstration
with autonomous capability that will enable the Marine Corps to rapidly resupply forces
on the front lines. The system consists of a sensor and software package that can be
integrated into any manned or
unmanned rotary-wing aircraft to detect and avoid obstacles in unfavorable
weather conditions ..."

RC Hobbies on Air, by Jose Lozano

Mr. Jose Lozano wrote recently to let me know
about his RC drone resources website called RC Hobbies on Air. As with many people these days, Jose appears to
have really become a drone (multirotor) enthusiast - enough so to create an entire website
dedicated to helping others decide what is the best way to get started with RC drones.
He gives a rundown on features and characteristics of various modern drone models. If
you have been considering
getting into RC drones, then you might want to give his site a looking
over ...

The Best of EAA's 2017 AirVenture

"If you were there in person, you already know:
AirVenture 2017 was a big success. If you missed this year's excitement in Oshkosh,
let the numbers tell you everything you need to know. More than half a million people
attended, making this the biggest AirVenture ever, and those guests were treated to more
than 10,000 aircraft and so many thrilling air shows. We'd say EAA has its work cut out
to make the 2018 show better than this one, but we won't be shocked when it happens.
So much happened at this year's AirVenture that it was almost impossible to cover it
all, but here's a look back at some of our favorite ..."

"On 13 November 1907, French engineer and bicycle
maker Paul Cornu made history by becoming the first man to fly in a
rotary wing aircraft. The primitive helicopter - a twin-rotor craft
powered by a 24-horsepower engine - only lifted Cornu about 1.5m off the ground, holding
him there for 20 seconds at Coquainvilliers, near Lisieux in France. But that was enough
for Cornu to take his place in the history books as the first man to successfully fly
a rotary wing aircraft. Paul Cornu was born in 1881 in the French town of Lisieux, where
the local high school is named after him to this day. Once he reached working age, he
joined his father ..."

Sites Are Great in Kansas City

Kansas City Radio Control Association (KCRC) has
been around for many decades. Its AMA club number of #390 was assigned in 1954. That
was 66 years ago as of this writing, but it was only 8 years old when this feature article
appeared in American Modeler magazine. Since at least 1962, the KCRC flying field (now
named "Charles W. Reed III Flying Field") has been located just west of Lake
Jocomo, in Kanas City. This article discusses not just the KCRC flying site, but many
of the others in the surrounding area. I count 11 on the included map, including parks,
schools, and parking lots. It is interesting to compare the maps ...

Hobbico Files for Bankruptcy - Goodbye
Tower Hobbies & Great Planes?

Another great American company is circling the drain!
I've been a contented Tower Hobbies customer since the 1970s. "Hobbico filed for bankruptcy protection Wednesday, which could result
in 332 layoffs at its Champaign facility. In a statement, Hobbico said that it plans
to sell the company and will continue operating throughout the bankruptcy process. Hobbico
also said that as it has grown, it has added too much debt and hasn’t been able to successfully
restructure, especially facing 'an increasingly competitive industry, market headwinds
and a series of one-off events with key suppliers." Hobbico was formed in 1986 when Clint
Atkins combined two companies he bought: Don Anderson's Great Planes Model Distributors
and Bruce Holecek's Tower Hobbies, which was founded in 1971 ...

The Wasp Engine's Great Leap Forward

"The only aircraft engine to be designated an historic
landmark. Advances in propulsion are what drive aviation development. Innovative airplanes
almost always start with innovative engines, and the airframes follow. In 2016, the American
Society of Mechanical Engineers celebrated just such an engine. The society designated
the
Pratt & Whitney R-1340 Wasp a technology landmark, the organization’s
highest award, because the Wasp singlehandedly brought about a leap forward in aircraft
performance and economics. The tale of its development is still ...

Flyin' Jenny Comic Strip - December 21, 1941

The Baltimore Sun newspaper, published not far
from where I grew up near Annapolis, Maryland, carried
Flyin' Jenny from the late 1930s until the strip ended in the mid 1940s, so I saved
a couple dozen from there. The first one I downloaded has a publication date of December
7, 1941 - that date "which will live in infamy," per President Roosevelt. Many Americans
were receiving word over the radio of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor while reading
this comic at the breakfast table ...